The present invention relates to plastics moulding. More particularly, although not exclusively, the invention relates to a technique for achieving intricate surface detail in parts of a moulded plastics scale model kit.
Plastics model kits have been known for many years to comprise a “skeleton” of numbered parts to be individually removed to be glued together in accordance with an instruction sheet to form a scale model. Similar skeletons of parts are also provided for purposes other than assembling plastics models—such as for example in the provision of multiple small finished parts like toy figures or components used in other fields.
The known technique of forming such a skeleton of parts is to provide a pair of opposed dies which cooperate to define flow tracks and a plurality of cavities into which the plastics material flows from the flow tracks. The material from which the dies are made is limited in its ability to provide intricate surface detail on the finished parts where desired. For example a gun turret of a scale model army tank would be more realistic if it had intricate surface detail mimicking in fine detail the surface features of a full-scale gun turret. Such detail in the scale model might be very fine and only really properly visible with the assistance of a magnifying glass. The inverse of such detail is not possible to achieve in the dies of the known moulding technique.